Banks of the nile lyrics

Artist  : Sandy denny 
Song : Banks of the nile
 
Oh hark! the drums do beat, my love, no longer can
we stay.
The bugle-horns are sounding clear, and we must
march away.
We’re ordered down to portsmouth, and it’s many
is the weary mile.
To join the british army on the banks of the
nile.

Oh willie, dearest willie, don’t leave me here to
mourn,
Don’t make me curse and rue the day that ever I
was born.
For the parting of our love would be like parting
with my life.
So stay at home, my dearest love, and I will be
your wife.

Oh my nancy, dearest nancy, sure that will never
do.
The government has ordered, and we are bound to
go.
The government has ordered, and the queen she
gives command.
And I am bound on oath, my love, to serve in a
foreign land.

Oh, but I’ll cut off my yellow hair, and I’ll go
along with you.
I’ll dress myself in uniform, and I’ll see egypt
too.
I’ll march beneath your banner while fortune it
do smile,
And we’ll comfort one another on the banks of the
nile.

But your waist it is too slender, and your
fingers they are too small.
In the sultry suns of egypt your rosy cheeks
would spoil.
Where the cannons they do rattle, when the
bullets they do fly,
And the silver trumpets sound so loud to hide the
dismal cries.

Oh, cursed be those cruel wars, that ever they
began,
For they have robbed our country of manys the
handsome men.
They’ve robbed us of our sweethearts while their
bodies they feed the lions,
On the dry and sandy deserts which are the banks
of the nile.